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Fletcher, Greenwood top American boarders
5th, 7th are best finishes for U.S. at World Cup
By Dennis Romboy
Deseret News staff writer
WHISTLER, B.C. — U.S. snowboarder Rosey Fletcher had the reigning Olympic champion down and almost out in a World Cup parallel giant slalom race Monday.
With a slight time advantage going into the second race of the two-run, head-to-head format, all Fletcher had to do was stay even with Karine Ruby of France to advance to the next round. But three gates from the finish line on a course named Choker Trail, the Girdwood, Alaska, native lost it hard in the soft snow.
Ruby slid past Fletcher to win the quarterfinal match and ultimately her 60th career World Cup gold medal, by far the most of any woman or man on the International Ski Federation (FIS) tour.
"I tried to forget about my first run and do my best on the second one, and it worked," said Ruby, who considers PGS her weakest event.
Weather was a factor for the third consecutive day on Blackcomb Mountain. Overnight snow left the course mushy and deeply grooved by the end of the day. Low-hanging clouds shrouded the slope in fog for most races.
"I'm tired of crashing," said Fletcher, the victim of similar fates in races this year after being among the fastest qualifiers. "You have this thing in your head that you need to be superhuman, and you don't. You just need to ride."
All was not lost, though. Fletcher's fifth-place finish made her the top American in the race that doubled as the first of five U.S. Olympic team qualifying meets. "That's one positive thing that came out of today, I guess," she said.
Teammate Lisa Kosglow of Boise, Idaho, was right behind her in sixth place. She appeared to be cruising for a semifinal matchup with Ruby but, like Fletcher, got sideways three gates from the finish.
"I feel like I rode pretty well today," Kosglow said. "For the most part, things are going the way I want them to be going. You don't want to peak too early . . . I'll work out the wrinkles and go on."
Kosglow and Fletcher have Olympic scores to settle after wiping out at the 1998 Nagano Games.
On the men's side, Jeff Greenwood, Hartford, Conn., was the lone bright spot. He was the top U.S. finisher and tied for seventh overall in a race won by Slovenia's Dejan Kosir, the current World Cup leader.
Kosir outdueled Jasey-Jay Anderson of Canada for the win. Both will be among the favorites at the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City.
Although reaching his goal to reach the top eight, Greenwood saw room for improvement in the less-than-ideal racing conditions.
"I'm not very efficient in soft, rutty snow. I didn't have my game together for it and just made too many little mistakes," he said.
Chris Klug of Aspen, Colo., likely America's best hope for an Olympic medal in men's PGS, had a dismal day. He did an inadvertent 180 on the flat part of the course in the qualifying round, costing him valuable time. The big mistake pushed him all the way down to 42nd place overall and fifth among U.S. riders.
U.S. alpine snowboarders have four more chances to improve their standing. The four men and four women with the best two results in the five qualification meets make the Olympic team.
E-mail: romboy@desnews.com
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December 11, 2001
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